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Originally Posted by MatthewM
On the subject of hair color-
Do you think that when Tolkien described a character with dark hair that it was always raven? What about dark brown? Faramir's hair is described as raven when it mixes with Eowyn's in the wind, however black hair is seen in our modern world predominately in the Asian culture, although it is possible in a European background I'm sure. What color do you think "dark hair" meant? I like to think he meant dark brown, as well as raven.
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Black or dark hair was the predominant colouring allegedly, together with blue eyes, for the Britons. So the classic dark haired Elf/Numenorean is like one of the original Britons or Celts. The Fair colouring was primarily associated with Anglo-Saxons, whereas Ginger was mostly associated with the Scandinavians (which is maybe why so many Scots and Irish have this colouring).
Of course, these are not hard and fast rules as people had been coming in and out of the islands for millennia, but it would be nice if there was some kind of cultural metaphor in the mingling of Faramir & Eowyn's hair - as there seems to be!